


A Cup of Tea

by thecookiemomma



Series: Tea and Pineapples [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010), NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-31
Updated: 2011-05-31
Packaged: 2017-10-19 23:02:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/206160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecookiemomma/pseuds/thecookiemomma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Feds want in on the Governor's murder investigation.  A very unlikely agent is sent from the Navy, due to Steve's SEAL connections.  She and Chin talk about the case over tea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Cup of Tea

Chin Ho Kelly groaned and slid out of his squad car. He stepped slowly toward the hotel's lobby, not looking forward to this meeting at all. _What a complete and utter clusterfuck._ He ran his hand over his face, and walked through the lobby, looking to find the woman he was supposed to meet.

He made his way toward the small tearoom the woman had mentioned as an appropriate meeting place. Chin could see why: it was completely deserted at this time of day. There would be no way to mistake this Agent Lange for anyone else. He hated that he had to meet her at all. But the actions of Steve Fucking McGarrett in relationship to the death of the governor made it a federal issue. And every federal agency wanted a bite. Not the least of which was the Navy Criminal Investigative Services. And since Chin was the only remaining member of Five-Oh not in jail or Jersey, it fell to him to liaise with every single one of them. He ran his hand over his face again, steeled himself for the interview, and strode purposefully into the tearoom.

“Officer Kelly, I presume.” Chin was surprised. Instead of a tall, slender, young (Kono-clone) agent, there sat a short, older woman with dark hair and owl-like glasses. She stood up at his approach, and shook his hand cordially. “Thank you for agreeing to meet me. This is such a mess. I work out of the Los Angeles office. There was supposed to be an agent here at Pearl, but he is on assignment elsewhere, of course, and I was the closest agent able to handle a – situation of this magnitude.”

“Agent Lange.” Chin found himself smiling at the little woman. She reminded him somewhat of his great grandmother. Short but wise and fierce. “You can say it, ma'am. It's a clusterfuck.” He winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth, and waited for the inevitable disapproval. He was surprised yet again.

“I much prefer the term 'goat rope', Officer Kelly. It is less vulgar, and conjures the image of a rodeo, instead of an – orgy.” Though her distaste was clear when she spoke the last word, he noticed that the twinkle didn't leave her eyes. “Oh, do ease up. I work with cops, sir. Vulgarity is unfortunately a major part of our bailiwick.” She snorted. “Now, I would like your take on the situation. And not just the … official line. I am here to make my own judgments, and your opinion is only a part of the process, of course.”

Chin sat there, sipping at his tea, and told her the whole sordid thing, from the beginning of Five-Oh to the end – leaving nothing out, including how betrayed he felt by Steve shooting the governor. When he mentioned Wo Fat's name, he noticed her eyes narrow perceptibly. She recognized the name.

“That man was on our ten Most Wanted list for a record number of years. He edged off the list only by virtue of his silence and more urgent notorious persons. He has a penchant for the effective use of a cats' paw. If he's at the bottom of this ...” She sighed, and motioned for Chin to continue. When he had finally finished, she sat silently, only moving to pour them another cup of tea, fix hers to her specifications, and then, began to speak.

“Firstly, I must caution you not to judge your Lt Commander McGarrett too harshly, Officer Kelly. After all, he is a SEAL. They have a very unique code of honor and manner of doing things. My Office of Special Projects came with its own pet SEAL, and I must constantly translate from SEAL to Agent. He has been known to get – forceful with suspects, much like your McGarrett. It is part of their makeup. However, for the most part, betrayal is not. Listening to your narrative, I am moved to look for an alternative explanation. Perhaps I should be able to speak to him personally, and translate his testimony for myself.” There was that snort again, and she sipped silently at her tea, waiting expectantly for his response.

“What I saw was fairly condemning, Agent Lange. He was holding the gun.” He sighed. “However, I guess it's possible that he was framed. It just seemed like a bit much, especially when we'd warned him not to go over there. But …” He remembered something. “None of the guys on the outside – her guards and staff – none of them were dead. Just knocked out. If he'd have gone off-rez, he'd have had a higher body count.” They'd been through _that_ as well.

“Indeed. If they do go rogue, they go to infernal in an instant. It is a danger of their training and experiences. I gather from your words you have experience in this yourself?”

Chin nodded, and explained about the case with General Pak.

“Oh... I remember reading something about that, yes. What a terrible development.” She fell silent again, seeming to consider her words.

Chin spoke up, leaning forward slightly. “What's your next move? Can I help you? I want to know the truth. If he did it, then he needs to stay locked up for his own good and everyone else's. But if he didn't do it...” He let his voice trail off. “I messed up. Every one of them is gone. Kono's in jail, Steve's in jail, Danny's hied himself back to Jersey with his family...” He sighed deeply. “I was the one all ready to go to jail for the money thing. I'd already resigned myself to it. And now I'm the only one on the ground here. Well, except for Jenna.”

“Ah, yes. Agent Kaye. I shall have to speak to her as well. Her intelligence analysis has been invaluable to us in several cases, if I recall correctly.” She gave a small smile. “When the Agency has been – persuaded to play nicely in our corporate sandbox.” Her eyes twinkled behind her teacup. “That will probably be my next move, and then, from there, I may call in my team. These old bones are not up to the legwork this case will probably require. But having a friendly liaison should help, Officer Kelly.”

“Oh, ma'am, call me 'Chin', please. If we're going to work together, calling me 'Officer Kelly' all the time'll get unwieldy.”

“Only if you'll call me 'Hetty.'” She smiled, and held out her now-empty hand to shake. “This appears to be the beginning of a very good thing, I believe.”

Chin chuckled softy, and couldn't help but agree.


End file.
